Monday, January 27, 2014

In tough moments, counting the blessings

It would have been easy to have a pity party. Instead, I took my own advice. I started to count all of the amazing things that I recognized because of this incident.

1) I have an incredible family. I was out visiting them to celebrate my birthday and to see my parents who were visiting and my grandmother who is moving out of assisted living.

2) I was full. My aunt and uncle always provide a ton of food (you can see my aunt's new blog if you're in the NY area and in need of desserts for any upcoming parties! She's an incredible cook and does everything with love and style!) and beverage and good conversation and positive energy. So you could say I was full both physically and emotionally.

3) My dog. The pup was calm, cool, and collected. And it's so true that they have an effect on the way we perceive our situation. I didn't feel alone while I had to wait.

4) Complete strangers are good people. Just 30 seconds after pulling off the road (only a few miles from my destination and about 2 miles after my car first began making noise - oops!), a nice man named Jeff stopped his car, put it in reverse for a good 1/4 mile, and, upon reaching me, asked if I was ok. I informed him that I know how to change a tire, but that it'd been a while (I did it twice in one week during high school), and I welcomed the help. Jeff got out of his car and spent somewhere between 45 minutes and an hour helping me to jack the car, remove the rusted spare from the trunk, and remove the rusty nuts from the bolts before finding that the tire was either frozen or rusted to whatever the thingamajig is that connects it to the axle (me and my scientific auto knowledge). Jeff didn't give up. He grabbed a brick and more tools from his car and worked away for another 15 minutes in the freezing temperatures and as darkness fell, trying to free the tire to no avail. Finally, we gave up. The fact that he stopped what he was doing to help a complete stranger in the freezing cold for over an hour? If that doesn't restore your faith in humanity, I don't know what will.

5) Friends who will drop everything. Bryan picked up my phonecall to request info on tow-trucks since I'm not from around here. I could hear the smile in his voice when he answered and immediately upon understanding my situation, said he'd call right back. Within minutes he did just that, telling me the truck was on the way. AND THEN he and Britt packed themselves up and came out to pick us up since the driver wouldn't take the dog.

6) Friends who will keep you occupied. Cait kept me company via text while I waited to be picked up.

7) Friends who greet you when you get home. My roommate was waiting up for me and made tea for me when I reached home, and my best friends from childhood didn't disown me for being late to our vacation planning meeting (again).

8) Sunshine and no snowstorm. Sunshine made the first 30 minutes of the wheel attempt more bearable and the lack of snow falling made it easier for Jeff to make the decision to stop and help. Thank goodness for that!

9) Good public transportation. I can still get to work on time and without too much hassle because the public transport is nearby and relatively inexpensive.

And so...though my bill for the tow and a new tire may shock me later this afternoon, I gotta' say, I'm pretty blessed. Great family and friends, food, a loving pet, a car to get me where I need to go (most of the time) and a job to be able to pay for my car troubles.

Count your blessings, and you won't have time to worry about the rest.